OPINION

Greek soccer on its knees

Like thousands of other Greeks of the diaspora, I have watched Greece’s two top clubs, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos, in action in the lucrative Champions league. Unfortunately, both clubs have yet again let their supporters down. They both finished last in the respective groups and set new standards in conceding the most goals. PAO scored four goals in six matches and conceded 16. Olympiakos scored seven in six and conceded 13. Greek clubs are continually looked upon as easily beatable and their overall records in Europe show both clubs have more losses than wins. The question I ask myself is: Why is it that other Mediterranean clubs from Spain, Portugal and Italy are more competitive and why it that Greek clubs fail woefully? The simple answer is that the standard of Greek football is too low, with too many stops and starts and fouls and not enough emphasis on attacking football. The quality of coaches and overseas players in Greece is substandard. Most come to Greece when they cannot get a contract in the bigger clubs. Greek clubs need more Dutch, German, French or English coaches with an emphasis on attacking football. The ball is not going to go to the back of the net when you don’t have shots. Both Greek clubs also need to ask themselves why they are spending so much money on overpriced overseas players to get results like that. You might as well put all Greek players on the team. I am sure they cannot do any worse. GEORGE SALAMOURAS, Melbourne.

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